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March 25, anniversary of two fires

TheCommish

SAWHORSE
Joined
Sep 27, 2011
Messages
2,135
Location
Charlton Ma
Happyland Social Club, New York, NY

23 years ago on March 25, 1990 in the early morning hours a fire set by Julio Gonzalez on the stairway leading to the second floor club with gasoline trapping and killing 87 people. The club was 60x20 feet in size, served by 2 exits, the fast moving fire and toxic gasses contributed to the number of death along with lack of sprinklers and the fact the fire was sent in the primary exit stairway.

link A River Of Tears: Happy Land — 'Fuego! Fuego!' — Crime Library on truTV.com

NIST report fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire92/PDF/f92041.pdf

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

102 years ago known as the; Triangle Waist Company Fire, Triangle Factory Fire occurred on March 25, 1911

One of the well know fire tragedy that follows a familiar theme; lock/blocked and inadequate exits, quantities of flammable material and bed timing.

The Triangle Waist Company was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. Both men had emigrated from Russia as young men, met in the United States, and by 1900 had a little shop together on Woodster Street they named the Triangle Waist Company. Growing quickly, they moved their business into the ninth floor of the new, ten-story Asch Building, on the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street in New York City. They later expanded into the eighth floor and then the tenth floor.

On Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire started on the eighth floor. Work had ended at 4:30 that day and most of the workers were gathering their belongings and their paychecks when a cutter noticed a small fire had started in his scrap bin. No one is sure what exactly started the fire, but a fire marshal thought a cigarette butt had possibly gotten tossed into the bin. Nearly everything in the room was flammable: hundreds of pounds of cotton scraps, tissue paper patterns, and wooden tables.Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire accessed March 24, 2013

A film clip

OSHA page THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE
 
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